Bharatiya Pragna - Dr. Th Chowdary

I t would not be difficult to come to an
agreement as to what we understand by science.
Science is the century-old endeavour to bring
together by means of systematic thought the perceptible
phenomena of this world into as thorough-going
an association as possible. To put it
boldly, it is the attempt at the posterior reconstruction
of existence by the process of
conceptualization. But when asking myself what
religion is I cannot think of the answer so easily.
And even after finding an answer which may
satisfy me at this particular moment, I still remain
convinced that I can never under any circumstances
bring together, even to a slight extent,
the thoughts of all those who have given
this question serious consideration.
At first, then, instead of asking what religion
is I should prefer to ask what characterizes
the aspirations of a person who gives me
the impression of being religious : a person who
is religiously enlightened appears to me to be
one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated
himself from the fetters of his selfish desires and
is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings and aspirations
to which he clings because of their super
personal value. It seems to me that what is important
is the force of his super personal content
and the depth of the conviction concerning its
overpowering meaningfulness, regardless of
whether any attempt is made to unite this con-
55
Science and religion Albert Einstein
Unlike religion, science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and
outside of its domain value judgements of all kinds remain necessary.
tent with a divine Being, for otherwise it would not
be possible to count Buddha and Spinoza as religious
personalities. Accordingly, a religious person
is devout in the sense that he has no doubt
of the significance and loftiness of those super
personal objects and goals which neither require
nor are capable of rational foundation. They exist
with the same necessity and matter-offactness
as he himself. In this sense religion is
the ageold endeavour of mankind to become
clearly and completely conscious of these values
and goals and constantly to strengthen and extend
their effect. If one conceives of religion and
November & December 2008 Bharatiya Pragna